Were You Born to be a Good Leader?

A new job has recently been posted at your office and you are wondering if you should apply for it. While you have many of the skills that are necessary to do the job, the most important responsibility is to lead a team of people. You haven’t been a team lead before but you’ve certainly thought about moving up the ladder at some point in your career. Could this be the right time to do that? Were you born to be a good leader?

Do you have what it takes?

The good news is you don't have to be a born leader. You can learn to become one.

Every good leader has four important personality traits.

Good Leaders Lead, Pretty Simple, Right

Everyone needs to attain specific skills as they learn how to become a good leader. You'll be able to do this also.

As a leader, you are responsible for coaching people, teaching people, serving people and always being at their side. 'Serving people' may seem out of place, but this is part of it. By setting an example, you encourage others to grow.

Think of it like educating kids. If you never wash the dishes, how will your own kids know how to do them? As they start to learn how to wash dishes, you stand by them and help. Eventually, they'll be prepared to wash the dishes alone, and you'll find that they do a thorough job without your assistance.

These same principles apply to your team members. Educate your team members and work alongside them. Help them gain independence. This all requires an investment of energy and time, but assisting others is the best possible place to spend your time.

Good Leaders Listen

A good leader won't act like they're already experts in every possible thing, nor will they ignore the words of their team members. Your team members should always be able to talk to you for assistance and problem solving help if you're a good leader.

In addition to listening to people, a good leader also knows what to ignore. Leaders will never permit negativity about others in their team. It exhausts valuable energy and time.

A good leader will redirect these kinds of conversations politely and be discerning in what they discuss regarding their team.

Good Leaders Are Available

Staff members are always a priority to a good leader. While there may be an established schedule to meet with staff members, they're also not frustrated if an emergency comes up and someone needs their help.

Always have an open door policy and deal with things constructively and timely.

Good Leaders Prioritize & Organize

As a good leader you need to set priorities and be well organized on a daily basis.

These principles apply to your work, but also aspects of your life outside of the office.

Your family is always important, and by developing good time management skills you will be able to nicely balance them with your work.

Good Leaders Overcome Obstacles & Deal Well With Complaints

A good leader will have the skills to get past obstacles, or be able to conquer them completely.

Don't let negativity slow you down.

As a good leader, you should take in the positive energy and avert any negative energy.

You'll probably hear every manner of complaint as a leader. You won't want to hear every issue that people have, but your leadership position means that you'll have to.

Retain the good, and discard the bad.

You can find tons of information about developing the skills necessary for good leadership. Read a book, attend some classes, and talk with someone who has already established themselves as a good leader.

Comments

The last trait you talk about really hit home, especially with all I had to juggle today! My first job in a leadership role was kind of difficult because I was coaching my own team after my coachleader was promoted. The Reps made it difficult at first but that made me sharpen my skills even quicker and eventually they all came around and we were able to work together.

Great post,Sicorra!Corina

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I read on your Facebook page yesterday about the type of work that you use to do and I know exactly how stressful it can be at times. Good to hear that you found ways to get your team to work together well.

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I'm a leader in my job and love it! I love training, teaching, and developing. I think it is essential to develop the right people for the right jobs, and then it makes everything easy! I wouldn't trade being a leader for anything!

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I find the best leaders are the ones who have done the job of the people who they are now leading. They understand the unique challenges that are faced in every role and can really add value to a leadership position.

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I know what you mean...People who work their way up through the ranks within the business versus for example a new CEO that gets hired from a completely different type of company and has no idea what the people on the floor or in the offices do.

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When I was a PM there were certain people on the team that I would always trust to get their work done even if they were late sometimes. Upper management would freak out telling me that I should have made a big fuss over their lateness, but I said that if I do that instead of trust that it will get done, next time they will resent me and nothing will get done. I always kept in mind that everyone had lots to do and as long as I trusted them and left them alone, they would get my stuff done too.

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In my line of work (well probably any line of work) I've been praised as a leader to being calm under extreme pressure (weird things like clients dying, physically fighting, psychiatrically decompensating etc.). One of my case managers told me today that I'm the best supervisor she's ever had because I'm willing to "get my hands dirty". I told her that I would never expect her or anyone on the team to do anything that I wouldn't do myself. It's a respect principle that's personally important to me.

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